Dear Santa Yeah, I know it's summer but if you could get me a DSR-11 it would make my life considerably easier.

Still More Pictures! Here are shots from Carol and Cindy's fine party last Saturday.

Even More Pictures Photos from Kit's birthday!

Picture Time! The captions suck because I was too lazy to think of good ones. Ray-B-Q SF Random SF Weekend Check it out!

Nawlins and my People New Orleans (prounounced Nawlins) was so much fun. Everything was fantastic--the Southern hospitality, the amazing Cajun food, an excellent party (here are some of Rob's pics), lovely local girls, a kick-ass upgrade at The W, and more. I suppose the only thing that sucked was the incredible hangover I had most of Sunday. Oh well, that's what I get for staying out until 5AM. So yeah, I definitely want to visit again. If anyone's game, let me know. It would be quite an adventure. Now for a history lesson. Although Filipinos have been coming to America since the 1500s, Louisiana was the first place in (what would be) the US that had a permanent Filipino settlement. From 1565 to 1815, lots of Filipinos were forced by Spaniards to work the trade route between Manila and Acapulco. Many of them chose to jump ship in search of a better life. Some settled in Mexico, while a decent-sized group ended up in the bayous and marshes of Louisiana. I guess the climate made them feel like they were home. This brings me to my last point. I've been approached to be the subject of a feature by a journo in Manila. He's part of an organization called the Asian Gaming Journalists Association. He says the group's goal is "to unite Asian gaming journalists and encourage more publications to devote space to developments in the gaming industry across the region." It seems like a cool thing to do; I'd be helping my people and hopefully Reset would get some international viewers. Plus I'd get an honorary membership into a group with an acronym. This brings me back to my colleges days when I'd terrorize other kids with my memberships in the Chinese Students Associations (CSA), the Asian American Alliance (AAA), the East Coast Asian Students Union (ECASU), the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue (FIND), the National Filipino American Youth Association (NFAYA), and a bunch of other militant (not really) groups that I can't remember. Ha!

Time to Make the Donuts I've been pretty...Dionysian the last week. It's pretty much all been about wine (beer), women (Sad Girl), and song (karaoke). Andy Mc's visit was followed by a visit from Ted, which meant lots and lots of drinking. It was really fun but it made me feel really lazy and decadent (even though I did two shoots). Sad Girl was inhabiting (see Love Actually) with me for the last week. It was mostly good. I enjoy taking care of her and I want to be there for her as she tries to figure herself out. The days were fun and harmless. Nights were sometimes difficult. She drinks a lot and gets pretty frisky. I'm usually really good about fending her off, but if I'm really drunk it seems like a good idea. It doesn't bother me anymore that she acts friend-ish sober and totally tries to jump me when she's drunk. It's kind of sad for both of us, but I've accepted it for what it is. She can't hurt me anymore. Anyway, she's gone now. Actually she's still there (in SF, not my apartment) and I'm in New Orleans (prounounced Nawlins). Works going to get pretty busy, which should keep me away from the wine, women, and song...or at least two of those. After I get back from Nawlins, I have a few days of post, a day of studio shoots, one more day of post, and a couple of shoots in The OC/LA. I also have possible (probable actually) shoots in New York, San Diego, and San Francisco. It should be crazy fun for a bit. Oh, Nawlins is pretty neat. I walked around town for a bit, ate some delicious Cajun food, and skipped out on French Quarter debauchery in favor of seeing Batman Begins again. I think I'll hang out tomorrow night though. I miss cities where bars stay open until 4AM.

Good Times Wow. Ted's been over and it has been leading to some interesting adventures. Last night was probably the most ridiculous. 6.5 liters of wine at Bucca and some really lovely, really expensive whiskey at Shane's.

Oh! I totally forgot that Andy Mc is coming to town this week. That makes things exponentially more fun. A marathon session of liar's dice is in order on Wednesday. Oh yeah, a bunch of us were thinking of going to BY Grill on Thursday. It's all you can drink beer for $25. Skip and I want to make them pay for their folly. Drop me a line if you want to come!

City Hall So I spent most of today doing paperwork for my new venture. This included a rather neat trip to city hall, which in turn made more than a few friends wonder if I was filing for a marriage license. Very funny people. That's next month. *joke* So yeah. I called the feds to get some tax number. I filed something with the state for a California tax thingie. And I filed another piece of paper so I can fictitiously do business (a concept I'm still struggling with). In between I scrounged up another writing assignment to keep me occupied until my next shoot. So what does this all mean? Not much really. I can now get sued twice as much as most of you. You can sue me or you can sue me under the fictitious business name (FBN) I'm doing business as (DBA). The government is so cute with its acronyms. That's been kind of a challenge for me actually. I haven't had a lot to do since the E3 episode posted. The writing stuff is slow and I jumped at the chance to do something even though it wasn't the most interesting game in the world. The downtime allowed me to finally fully unpack from E3, buy some new shoes (Camper x 3), and put my room in order. It also allowed me to spend way too much time thinking, which is rarely good when I dwell on romantic matters. It also allowed me to get drunk and meet new people. This can be a good thing, but it might have led to the single dumbest thing I've ever done in my life. I'm trying to avoid thinking about it, but I'll have to soon. I really need to learn how to say no to pretty girls that say really sweet things when they're equally drunk. (And no, it's not what you're thinking.) Thankfully things are picking up again. The next few shoots are planned and I have to figure out what the hell I want the next two episodes to be. There are lots of logistical problems to tackle, which is fine -- it'll keep my mind busy and away from silly things. Oh, the cuts on my fingers finally healed. So it's going to be boxing time again. Sweet!

Picture Time! Mark's Excellent BBQ Eeeevers Birthday Another Karaoke Night Jennie's Excellent BBQ